Thanks to everyone who submitted TFACTS questions--keep them coming! Please send questions via Groupwise e-mail to: EI DCS TFACTS Feedback.
Here is our second installment of TFACTS Q&A:
Will the information that is now on the G and W drive be sent to the FFA in TFACTS, or will all those FFA's not be in the TFACTS system?
The FFA information currently stored will not be converted to TFACTS, although it will still be available to reference. Program management is still making decisions about how to handle the new input of information into the FFA available in TFACTS, such as possibly starting to put current information in from the next due date following implementation. Of course, you will be able to start entering information that will populate the FFA, from other assessments, right away as well.
Will the new TFACTS system be able to send a notification of pending intakes needing assignment? Or any type of alert to help with this?
There are two types of Intakes that will be managed via Intake workload screens in TFACTS: CPS Intakes and Other (Non-CPS) Intakes. TFACTS will provide for the assignment of a regional CPS staff person by Central Intake, who will then in turn be able to assign the Intake to a CPS Worker. The worker can then link the Intake to a Case if needed. Other (Non-CPS) Intakes (ICPC/ICJ, Out of State Courtesy, Post-Custody, etc.) will be generated directly from the Other (Non-CPS) Intake workload screen. However, no alerts or notifications (e-mails) were identified to prompt the regional staff when Intakes are created, so monitoring of the Intake workload screens will be necessary.
I need specific filters for the work I do in recruiting resource parents. I do pray that your design will enable me to filter by date and county. The report pull capabilities are currently archaic and not even that useful.
Currently, certain reports can be accessed directly from TNKids. It will not work quite this way with TFACTS, except for certain specific reports. The ones that will be available directly from the TFACTS application will include the federal AFCARS, NCANDS, and National Youth in Transition Database reports, and 15 financial reports. Some other reports may be available via data extracts from the TFACTS application in the future. The majority of reports, of the type that you're describing (such as placement), are under consideration for availability via an application called Microstrategy. It will pull from data stored in a data warehouse, and the ability to develop reports that filter more useful information will be enhanced. The Analysis and Reporting office at OIS is working on the reports that won't be directly available through TFACTS.
Can a system be worked in that will allow us to filter by county when searching for a child? For example when we search in the current TN Kids and we don't have a DOB or middle initial then 50 J. Smith's could come up, but if we are looking for a child in a particular county that would assist in the search.
Unfortunately, it will not be possible to search by county in TFACTS when implemented. The feature will allow workers to search on more criteria (narrow the search) than TNKids, so the possibility of returning duplicate persons will be less likely. The confidence match in TNKids is not very reliable, for the most part. TFACTS will have an enhanced Person Search that will present better match options, using the Informatica Identity Resolution (IIR system).
The TFACTS Person Search will offer the same searchable fields as in TNKids (Person ID, SSN, or Name) and just like TNKids, users will still be able to narrow the search down by including fields such as DOB, Gender and Race. However, you'll have the option of narrowing down a search even further by searching for street addresses in TFACTS.
TFACTS will also provide the ability to search by a particular category, such as Person Search, Intake Search, Case Search, Resource Search or Employee Search. All you'll have to do is click on the appropriate tab. Currently, the worker has to scroll down the left navigation and treasure hunt for a particular module to search on (i.e. to search for Resource Home, for example) in TNKids.
Currently in TNKids it is difficult to find the resource family's phone number for our FSW's. It would be great to have an easy, obvious means to find this information. We need to be able to use this as a reference to get a phone number of where our children are placed.
This information will be available in the Resource Address tab under Resource Basic Information in TFACTS. This information will also be available by using Search options (described above).
Information can be stolen when transmitted wirelessly- what if TFACTS was accessed through a wi-fi system? Can security be maintained under those conditions? What have you put in place to monitor for security and confidentiality?
1) Our users will be authorized for access to TFACTS much as they are currently authorized to use other DCS systems. Obviously, just as they do now, users will need to keep their credentials (usernames/passwords) private and not share those credentials with anyone. Our best defense against intrusion is for our users to keep and use good security practices, such as ensuring they have strong passwords and that those passwords are kept secret.
2) The TFACTS web application is being built using industry standard web security protocols such as SSL (Secure Socket Layer) data encryption to protect data while it's in transit from your computer to the server and back.
3) Our TFACTS server farm is housed at the State's Data Center in Nashville-- the Data Center uses state-of-the-art architecture to ensure the security of the data housed on those servers